QIC targets domestic pastures

The private equity arm of the $70 billion fund manger Queensland Investment Corporation has given its clearest signal yet that it wants to make direct agricultural ­investments in Australia.

QIC’s global private equity team associate, Tom ­Washington, told agricultural leaders, such as
GrainCorp
chairman
Don Taylor
, at a BDO Agribusiness event that the fund manager was positioning itself for investment in Australian agriculture.

“The vast amount of our investments have been made offshore in North America and Europe but now we are focusing more on direct assets into Australia, and ­agriculture has been one of the sectors that we are looking to target at the moment," Mr Washington said.

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Calls across the agricultural industry for greater domestic institutional support have been met with a ­cautious approach. However, in the past few years, a trickle of institutional money has been deployed.

AustralianSuper, AMP Capital Investors, AUSCOAL Super, Australian Catholic Superannuation and Retirement Fund and Christian Super have all made initial investments in the Sustainable Agriculture Fund while REST Superannuation and VicSuper have also made investments through their agricultural entities.

The Future Fund, whose head of property is Barry Brakey, was close to investing more than $100 million in a fund managed by PrimeAg Australia but the deal soured and PrimeAg is headed for privatisation.